A wonderful cold on top of a simmering sinus infection has given me some unplanned time to spend with my new bass. Notice how I put that? Tuned up and properly tested, this sucker is pretty much exactly everything I was hoping, lack of mass aside. It will do the RHCP Wal-faux Stringray tone with ease with all the smooth growl one could ask for: front pickup in HB mode, rear in single and volumes adjusted to amount of growl needed. That tone alone is so incredibly hard to attain and then the bass has even more options on top. I have played a Wal once and heft aside, the EB reminds me of the tones of that bass so much right down to the refined complexity of the midrange growl but with just enough Gibson boom to keep its identity firmly up front. This bass sounds, out of the box, like what I wished my Epi Les Paul could do: the tone of the US-made LP standards of the 90's era while morphing to a super Stingray with ease.
It's a keeper and while I wish the ash body had been grain filled, I understand the price prohibited that. I love the cream color. It really was my first choice for colors, though in cream, it almost passes for a Mosrite. Prior, I had a couple of natural, a few bursts, and mostly green and blue basses. Cream rounds out my color wheel nicely. The neck is very clearly Gibson while still being VERY playable. Lots of second and third position notes that get lost in the mud on Fender necks bloom with harmonic complexity and authority on the EB. I also could not make the volume drop on bends no matter how hard I tried and I bend the shit out of my strings.
I am not surprised that Uwe likes this bass; its articulate growl was a quantum leap forward for Gibson. Too bad it was axed. I'll just have to get famous and make it my signature instrument.
I like it THAT much. I would LOVE to have one with a mahogany body and a better finish just to hear what those excellent pickups would do with it. The delicacy of the finish means that it will probably only see church gigs. I love aggravating the praise team guys with NOT having a Fender and the finish feels eggshell fragile even moreso than an aged lacquer on a 50's or 60's Fender which likes to shed as a matter of course. I'm spoiled by modern polyester. Still, that is minor and the bass' tone probably benefits from it.
Another niggle: Gibson case candy included neither a cable nor a strap, something that is standard with any US-made Fender. At the original pricepoint of $1299, why Gibson couldn't have included a cable and strap that would have added about a dollar to the cost of the bass is beyond me.
In conclusion, I love it. It's a keeper.
